Iraqi forces free four villages in Anbar, 30 IS terrorists killed

Baghdad: Iraqi security forces on Wednesday freed four villages from Islamic State (IS) terrorists near the IS- held city of Fallujah in the western province of Anbar, but the terrorists blew up two oil wells in northern Iraq, security sources and an oil official said.

The troops and allied paramilitary Sunni tribal units, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, advanced in south of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad and recaptured the villages, Xinhua reported.

The fierce clashes left some 30 IS terrorists killed and five vehicles destroyed, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The battle south of Fallujah is part of a major offensive to tighten siege of the city in an attempt to drive out the terrorists, the source said.

In Iraq’s northern central province of Salahudin, a police commando officer and two policemen were killed and three others wounded when a booby-trapped house was detonated at a village near the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.

Separately, unidentified gunmen blew up two oil wells in Khubbaz oilfield in southwest of the city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, an official from the state-run North Oil Company (NOC) said.

Iraqi security forces and allied paramilitary units have been battling IS terrorists for re-control of large territories in northern and western Iraq that was seized by the IS since June 2014.